Nasser Hussain began his first day as a retired international player today, confident England now have a healthy set of emerging young batsmen capable of filling the void left by his absence.

For the first time in nearly eight years the England selectors will start discussions for next week's second Test against New Zealand without having Hussain in their thoughts when they announce the squad on Sunday.

His experience as a captain and player at the top level for 14 years will now be restricted to the commentary box with Sky Television, with whom he has signed a four-year deal due to start in July.

But, despite his role in helping England to an historic series victory in the Caribbean recently and his match-winning century in the opening Test at Lord's, Hussain is confident that there is now a pool of emerging batsmen ready to challenge for selection.

Heading that list is Middlesex's Andrew Strauss, who had such an impressive Test debut at Lord's with a first innings century after filling in for injured captain Michael Vaughan.

But there are others in domestic cricket who are also providing competition like Warwickshire's Ian Bell, Ian Ward of Sussex and Kent's Robert Key.

"To earn an England shirt or cap, you have to put your hand up and earn it and you can't argue that Andrew Strauss hasn't done that," stressed Hussain.

"It's not just about him, either, because I don't want to put any pressure on him or say he's the great white hope.

"For the first time there are a few lads out there who are getting runs and getting good runs and there's a pool of players that warrant selection.

"Age has been catching up with me a little bit. The body, the mind, the fire in the stomach and the eyes a little bit as well have started to slightly deteriorate.

"I was willing to fight that and against opposition and people who have written me off, which I've done throughout my career, but what I wasn't willing to do was to fight against youth in the form of Andrew Strauss.

"He put his hand up and came into the side and got a lot of runs. I was flicking through Teletext that week and saw players like Key and Bell and Ward getting runs and they warrant consideration for selection and by Sunday night I'd decided my time was up."

There was also the problem of fitting seven batsmen into six places for next week's Test at Headingley had Hussain decided to continue, with captain Vaughan due to return after recovering from his injured knee.

"You cannot get seven into six," stressed Hussain. "Should I stand there and let one of my team-mates that has gone into battle with me for the last few years step aside when I know I'm going to retire in a few months time?

"Should I let Marcus Trescothick sit out a Test and watch me plod along to 100 caps? I don't think so. All those other six batters, including Strauss, deserve to play and if I'm going to retire this summer it had to be me to step aside."